The present invention relates to communication systems and, more specifically, to a method and system for converting video telephone/teleconferencing calls to packet calls and converting packet calls into video telephone/teleconferencing calls.
Providing both multimedia (audio, video, and data) communication products and services to customers is playing an increasingly important role for telecommunications companies today. The power of multimedia communications is evident from the expansion in "videoconferencing", in which a user at a videoconferencing station can communicate "face-to-face" in real-time with someone at a distant videoconferencing station. The introduction of desktop videoconferencing equipment is making multimedia communications even more prevalent. Generally, multimedia communication uses equipment incorporated as part of a general purpose computer or integrated systems specifically designed for the task. Various multimedia products are available that enable users to exchange audio, video, and data through their personal computers (PCs) with one another by communicating over ISDN phone lines or over switched 56 kbps phone lines.
Generally the multimedia equipment used for such teleconferencing conforms to the H.320 or H.323 protocols that have been adopted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as an international standard for videoconferencing. The H.320 standard is a family of videoconferencing standards developed and maintained by the ITU which encompasses a variety of standards for audio compression, video compression, and telephone call set-up and control. The H.320 standard provides for the division of information into three distinct streams: audio, video, and data, where "data" herein is intended to mean digital information that is not meant to be displayed as real-time video or audio, and includes information to be displayed as text, such as documents, and data that is used to control applications or convey status to them. The H.320 standard allows videoconferencing over ISDN and other circuit switched networks and services. The H.323 standard extends the H.320 standards series to handle uneven and unpredictable data flow across the Internet and Local Area Networks (LANs). In particular, H.323 addresses voice communications over packet switched networks.
Currently, videoconferencing equipment users on a circuit switched network and Internet telephony equipment users on a packet network cannot talk from one domain to another because of the disparity of the systems.